Reform of U.S. health care is a must

Well-financed opponents have launched a blitzkrieg of public disinformation in an attempt to derail reform of health care in America. They employ a host of scare tactics, including the overused friend in Canada or relative in England who finds all kinds of fault in those countries' health-care systems. Of course, we also hear that people in those countries would not trade their systems for ours. But discussing other countries' success or failure misses the point and diverts attention from our real challenge: providing quality affordable health care to all Americans.

It is claimed that our health-care system is the best in the world, and it is -- if you are rich. Health-insurance premiums in Missouri are increasing at a rate four times that of wages, and private insurance for a family of four now averages over $12,000 a year. More than 200 Missourians and more than 14,000 Americans lose health-care coverage every day. Where 63 percent of workers used to be covered by employer-provided health care, the number has dropped to 56 percent and is falling fast. A recent report revealed that 62 percent of bankruptcies in our country are related to health-care costs, an increase of 50 percent from 2001 to 2007. Most families affected were middle-class homeowners with good-paying jobs and private health insurance coverage but were still overwhelmed by medical expenses. In another study, it was found that 25 percent of people had put off or failed to get vital health care when they needed it due to cost.

Families who planned well and thought they were covered by employer-provided or self-paid private insurance find themselves dumped by insurers after they become ill. In California, the state has sued numerous large insurers for unfair denial of coverage, and millions of Americans are rejected for coverage due to previously existing conditions. The Missouri State Insurance Department reports that of more than 2,700 formal complaints in the first half of 2009, most involved denial of claims by individual insurers.

Opponents of health-care reform are quick to deny these statistics and claim most Americans don't want reform. Yet polls from Quinnipiac, CBS/New York Times and NBC/Wall Street Journal all show overwhelming support for a public health-care option.

But statistics don't tell the entire story. At SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence, we see the pain and suffering of those affected by this crisis every day, including a growing population that has found itself in a devastating health-care black hole. These are people ages 55 to 65 who have worked hard all of their lives and find themselves out of work. They lose employer-provided insurance, can't get Medicare until they are 65, can't afford COBRA on unemployment benefits and, tragically, learn that age is treated as a pre-existing condition by private insurers who will soak them on premiums or refuse to cover them at all. Many face losing their homes and retirement benefits in order to pay medical bills.

Industry lobbyists portray private insurers as some sort of David threatened by the Goliath of a public health-care system. They claim competition would be eliminated, costing millions their health-care coverage. Yet, according to a study by the American Medical Association, health insurance is already a near monopoly in most markets, and "health insurers are posting historically high profit margins, while patient health-insurance premiums continue to rise without an expansion of benefits." Another favorite scare tactic of lobbyists is the notion that the government wants to dictate where, how and by whom you are treated and ration health care. But isn't that what private insurance companies are already doing?

A recent article rationalized the soaring cost of health care by saying we should expect to pay more because health care today is filet mignon compared to the hamburger that we use to get. But starving people do not insist on filet mignon. Right now, millions of Americans would be grateful for the hamburger of basic health care at a reasonable cost. If only filet is available, only the rich will eat, and increasingly the average American is priced out of the health-care market by soaring insurance premiums, overpriced durable medical equipment and outrageous prescription drug costs. Many are simply excluded by insurers who have a free hand in deciding who gets coverage and who isn't profitable.

America's health-care system can be compared to the sinking Titanic. The third-class passengers (the poor) on the lower decks have already drowned. The second-class passengers (the middle class) in the center of the ship are being inundated as the water rises higher. For the moment, the first-class passengers (the rich) are dry and happy on the upper deck, claiming the ship isn't sinking. A few passengers are lucky enough to occupy the life rafts (Medicare). All will sink if something isn't done.

To be sure, the shortage of primary-care physicians, out-of-control malpractice litigation and societal issues such as obesity, smoking and overuse of emergency rooms are issues that also cannot be left to fester. But lobbyists for the health insurance, durable medical equipment and prescription drug industries and others who reap huge profits from the existing mess are spending millions of dollars each day to steamroll Congress into maintaining the status quo. This is a fight that Americans cannot afford to lose to special interests. Their good health literally depends on it.

Will Richardson is director of outreach and education at the SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence in Cape Girardeau.